The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Survey says cops are tops with Halton residents by David Lea Oakville Beaver Staff 11 | Friday, August 26, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com A recent survey carried out in Halton has found 95 per cent of respondents are satisfied with the work of the Halton police service, but that traffic issues continue to be a concern for residents. The Halton Regional Police Service 2016 Community Survey was distributed randomly to 2,351 households throughout the region in March. A total 664 households responded anonymously. This was a 28.2 per cent response rate, which is a larger response than the 22.8 per cent received for a similar survey in 2012. Halton Police Chief Stephen Tanner said the exercise is intended to help police with their business planning process, assigning priorities, developing or fine-tuning existing community programs, crime prevention and education activities and enforcement. When asked about their satisfaction level with the work Halton police do, 95 per cent of respondents said they were very satisfied or reasonably satisfied. This is up from 93 per cent in 2012. Most had contact with police Of the 664 respondents, 61 per cent said they had some form of contact with Halton police over the last five years. followed by aggressive driving, speeding, disobeying signs and signals and impaired driving. The survey found the respondents feel fairly safe living in Halton, both during the day and after dark. All respondents (100 per cent) said that during daylight hours they felt very safe or somewhat safe in their homes. During the same period, 99 per cent said they felt generally safe in shopping centres, 93 per cent felt safe while driving, 96 per cent felt safe walking in their neighbourhoods and 98 per cent said they felt safe in public parks. Feeling safe after dark After dark only 74 per cent of respondents said they felt very safe or somewhat safe in public parks and only 82 per cent said they felt safe walking in their neighbourhoods. The number of respondents who felt safe at home after dark was still about the same at 98 per cent and in shopping centres with 95 per cent stating they felt generally safe. In the category dealing with fear of crime just 21 per cent of respondents said they were significantly fearful of someone breaking into their home while they are present, 34 per cent worried about someone breaking into their home while they are away, 28 per cent expressed fear about having their car broken into, 38 per cent were afraid of being in a collision with an impaired driver while 58 per cent said they were significantly fearful of being in a collision with a distracted driver. Crime going unreported The survey also attempted to determine if residents call police every time they are victimized by crime. Respondents were asked "Has anything happened to you or a member of your household within the past 12 months which you thought was a crime, but which you decided not to report to the police?" Nearly eight per cent of respondents indicated there were crimes they had not reported. When asked why they did not report the incidents, 65 per cent said they assumed police would not take any action, 55 per cent said they assumed police could not do anything, 22 per cent said it would have been too time consuming to call police and 12 per cent said they were afraid of the reaction of the people involved. When it comes to how police should spend their time, 49 per cent of respondents said police should spend more time controlling illegal drug use, 38 per cent want police to focus more on enforcing traffic laws, 41 per cent want police to provide more educational programs at schools, and 39 per cent want more effort directed into trying to catch criminals. Fifteen per cent said they had met with police because they were a victim of crime. When asked to identify the top five problems in their community, the majority of respondents (61 per cent) selected distracted driving as one of their top five. This was followed by aggressive driving (55 per cent), residential break-ins (50 per cent), vandalism (35 per cent), and thefts from vehicles (35 per cent). The respondents also listed distracted driving as their major traffic concern in Halton, MUSIC LESSONS kulele U & l a c o V , s m u r Guitar, Piano, D DIAMOND Thanks for Sign up today: ioN FeeS six awesome No ReGiStRatS years! No CoNtRaCt oN oNe PRiVate - oNe CoMe aLL aGeS WeL N oF GUitaRS! io t C e L e S e G U h om. nds to choose fr over 30 top bra S, KeYBoaRDS, ie R o S S e C C a , aMPS LeS, and more! DRUMS, UKULe ICE AND EXPERT SERV S REPAIRS WORLD-CLAS 905-257-3110 · theguitarworldoakville.com 380 Dundas St. E. (at Trafalgar Rd., in Longo's Plaza)